This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Where did I leave my keys?
Plot Overview
A joint Mexican/US FBI child trafficking sting yields only one
witness, a Mexican adolescent Beatrice Leon who is moved from a US processing center to a foster home
in El Paso, Texas under the aegis of Child Protective Services.
The traffickers call in a favor (“I need you on this”)
from a seasoned hit man (“Men like us don't retire”)
Alex Lewis (Liam Neeson) who balks at snuffing a kid. When he can't
get them to call off the contract, and another hit man fulfills
it, he goes on a vendetta against the lot of them, figuring the Child
Exploitation Task Force is too tied up in red tape to be effective
against their moneyed lawyers.
As Alex moves into the thick of things
it becomes apparent he's highly skilled but his memory is on the fritz.
He has to make notes to himself to remember the most basic moves
of his plan to help the fuzz, but as in a passage from an Austin
Williams's Rusty Diamond novel:
He surprised himself by discovering a knack for assisting the investigation while flagrantly ignoring any police warnings that hindered his efforts. Even more surprising was the satisfaction he derived from inflicting his own brand of punishment on some genuinely bad dudes who deserved it. (51)
Ideology
Here
is begun an intra-gang conflict with a humble beginning à
la, (Prov. 30:33) “Surely
the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the
nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth
strife.” A constant aggravation over time can change a state
of peace to one of war, as can an irritation to some critical area.
In fact Alex was holed up for a time in a derelict bakery that might
have once seen butter churned there. Early in this film Beatrice forcibly
removes the clothing of a client, one piece at a time, until the final
shirt comes off, and voilà, "PAPA, HE'S GOT A THING!" He was wired.
Start removing his clothes and eventually a peaceable liaison turns
into conflict. Also some casual viewing of child porn evidence eventually
gets to the viewers and they're all fired up over it.
The nose is a vulnerable area, wring it and it bleeds. Here a neck wound bleeds copiously. Alex goes out on a hit and it's business as usual, but when he sees it's a kid, that changes things.
Production Values
“” (2022) was directed by Martin Campbell. Its screenplay was written by Dario Scardapane, based on Carl Joos's 2003 Belgian film De zaak Alzheimer (“The Memory of a Killer,”) which in turn was based on Jef Geeraerts's book De zaak Alzheimer. It stars Monica Bellucci, Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce. Neeson delivered a consummate performance as we've come to expect. The rest of the actors were okay, too, but they were limited by what they had to work with; the book naturally would have devoted more time to character development.
MPAA rated it R for violence, some bloody images and language
throughout. Although displaying plenty of action and suspense,
this is a really dark picture because of its sordid material and a
faltering protagonist. Other than the lead there's nobody we feel
for, either good or bad, because there were too many shortened threads
to follow individually in this movie version. The exception for sympathy is
the helpful motorcycle cop who noticed the old man's gun too late.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
I recommend this one for Liam Neeson fans; he carried it. No doubt the book would have been better in other respects.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Well done action flick. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quotation is from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Williams, Austin. Blind Shuffle. Copyright © 2015 by Austin Williams. New York: Diversion Books, 2015. Print.
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